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gowmonster
1,304 posts
36 months
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Wife had a broken leg so her car wasn't being used (mk2 MX5 1.8s with lsd), so I'd try and take it out every few days to stop battery going flat/brakes seizing up.
24th December, approx 23:00 realise we've forgotten batteries for a Christmas present, walk out the house and think, I'll take the MX5 free the brakes up.
We jaunt up the road to the 24h petrol station, give it some beans, slow down and join a dual carriage way, through a roundabout no issues, next roundabout all well till i come off the exit, approx 20mph, never have I thought 20mph was fast till then, back end kicks out revs increase, lift off, lock right, catch it, lock left catch it, lock right, duf duf duf, rattled the back end off some railings and end up facing the wrong way. see some lights far off in the distance so full lock and try and spin it round, but no, plenty of grip now, eventually get round and drive all the way home shaking in autopilot, and didn't even get the batteries.
that was a quarter panel and rear bumper respray that one.
I'm guessing black ice but there was no grit on the roads but should probably have known better.
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NightRunner
4,232 posts
63 months
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eliot said: 1) Bonnet flying up and smashing windscreen at 30mph
2) Bonnet flying up and smashing windscreen at 50mph
(bonnet catch fixed..)
3)Windscreen blowing in and landing on lap at 75mph
No.3 was terrifying. Clios?
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Alfanatic
5,983 posts
88 months
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gowmonster said: Wife had a broken leg so her car wasn't being used (mk2 MX5 1.8s with lsd), so I'd try and take it out every few days to stop battery going flat/brakes seizing up.
24th December, approx 23:00 realise we've forgotten batteries for a Christmas present, walk out the house and think, I'll take the MX5 free the brakes up.
We jaunt up the road to the 24h petrol station, give it some beans, slow down and join a dual carriage way, through a roundabout no issues, next roundabout all well till i come off the exit, approx 20mph, never have I thought 20mph was fast till then, back end kicks out revs increase, lift off, lock right, catch it, lock left catch it, lock right, duf duf duf, rattled the back end off some railings and end up facing the wrong way. see some lights far off in the distance so full lock and try and spin it round, but no, plenty of grip now, eventually get round and drive all the way home shaking in autopilot, and didn't even get the batteries.
that was a quarter panel and rear bumper respray that one.
I'm guessing black ice but there was no grit on the roads but should probably have known better. The number of times I have heard stories of MX5s spinning on wet roundabouts at low speed with no provocation is a little bit disturbing, though I do know of someone who had a similar experience in a 924.
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VR46
289 posts
12 months
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eliot said: 1) Bonnet flying up and smashing windscreen at 30mph
2) Bonnet flying up and smashing windscreen at 50mph
(bonnet catch fixed..)
3)Windscreen blowing in and landing on lap at 75mph
No.3 was terrifying. Typical of french cars, especially clio's. Did renault repair foc?
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SmoothCriminal
984 posts
68 months
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VR46 said: Typical of french cars, especially clio's. Did renault repair foc? No of course not! When you took it in they simply greased it and let you go on your merry way
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djdestiny
1,383 posts
47 months
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Around 1991 in my Dad's Audi 80 Sport I had my mate following in his car, I was'nt really used to my dad's and we were going round a very long sweeping bend. I did'nt realise it was getting tighter and tighter, as I was also getting faster and faster happily oblivious that this car was quattro, compared to my own Nova at the time! It was damp and the inevitable happened, the back end let go and by pure luck I ended up sliding about 20 feet down the road completely sideways to a standstill. Quickly pulled over, got out to be greeted by my mate laughing his head off at me standing there shaking like a gibbering wreck  Drove home slowly with my tail between my legs praising my lucky stars I had not got to explain that Id just crashed the Dad's Audi!
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gowmonster
1,304 posts
36 months
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Alfanatic said: gowmonster said: stuff The number of times I have heard stories of MX5s spinning on wet roundabouts at low speed with no provocation is a little bit disturbing, though I do know of someone who had a similar experience in a 924. Wasn't even Chinese death tyres either, and had been round roundabouts quicker.
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danisdubbin
22 posts
34 months
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only have two brown moments, both in my mk3 golf gti
first was on the road back to uni, i was setting a fairly steady pace, within the limit mind, came round a long right hander, wet mud on the road from some farm im guessing, lost the back end, spun the car 360 and ended up in the hedge backwards ..... got out to find that there were posts in the hedge and my back ended was nestled nicely between two of these with about a foot of room either side (my brown moment was worrying about my bodywork)
second was driving out to a reservoir in aberystwyth, following my mate in his mx-5, only doing about 40 in a 60, spun the car AGAIN and ended up slamming the rear quarter into a beefy post, smashed the back door in, twisted axle, luckily didnt hit anyone else ..... car was a write off due to bodywork damage .... gutted
i swear there was something iffy with that car, because its soooo hard to step the back out on most mk3s
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eliot
5,321 posts
123 months
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VR46 said: eliot said: 1) Bonnet flying up and smashing windscreen at 30mph
2) Bonnet flying up and smashing windscreen at 50mph
(bonnet catch fixed..)
3)Windscreen blowing in and landing on lap at 75mph
No.3 was terrifying. Typical of french cars, especially clio's. Did renault repair foc? Urr no - I wouldn't be seen dead in anything less than 8 cylinders and certainly not french.
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OzzyR1
2,180 posts
101 months
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Only one that really scared me, heading up the M1 in the outside lane at about 70/80mph when a stone that must have been 3cm in diameter got flicked up from the opposite carriageway and hit my windscreen like a bullet.
The bang was unbelievable, I nearly pappered my keks.
Stone had actually made a hole and come into the car between my head and the rear-view mirror, eventually found it in the rear passenger footwell. Rest of the screen crazed over and became completely opaque - not good at that speed.
God knows how I got to the hard shoulder using a combination of hazards, mirrors and side windows only - it was pretty busy hence being in the outside lane in the first place.
Not something I ever want to experience again - Christ knows what would have happened if it was 6 inches to the left and had hit me in the face, probably wouldn't be here.
Really, really want a Caterham at some stage in my life but the thought of another stone at that speed really puts me off.
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Alfanatic
5,983 posts
88 months
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gowmonster said: Alfanatic said: gowmonster said: stuff The number of times I have heard stories of MX5s spinning on wet roundabouts at low speed with no provocation is a little bit disturbing, though I do know of someone who had a similar experience in a 924. Wasn't even Chinese death tyres either, and had been round roundabouts quicker. Yep, seems to be a real oddity, like there's some odd, rare condition in a tight bend on wet tarmac that makes the back slide out and just keep on going, on MX5s. And a 924. That driver parked it on a pavement (not on purpose), climbed out to check for damage and look back down the road and couldn't figure out what had made him spin, and it wasn't like he had no experience of oversteer either, and, as you have said and as the other MX5 examples I've heard tend to go, the driver wasn't trying at all at the time. Maybe it's just coincidence and it's always down to oil or something on the road. I'm not trying to put the MX5 down, I have no doubts about its handling prowess, I just notice that similar stories to this keep popping up from time to time. Perhaps you've mentioned it before and I just keep thinking it's different MX5s each time I read it 
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Hoygo
659 posts
30 months
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eliot said: 1) Bonnet flying up and smashing windscreen at 30mph
2) Bonnet flying up and smashing windscreen at 50mph
(bonnet catch fixed..)
3)Windscreen blowing in and landing on lap at 75mph
No.3 was terrifying.  at all of those who blame it on the french and renault (Tip,see his garage) fvcking stereotypes . :facepalm:
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Dave Hedgehog
5,320 posts
73 months
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3) MK1 Mr2 with a blue print engine, lowered to the ground with adjustable struts spun coming out of a corner sending me sideways into a wall, somehow managed to catch it missing it by inches 2) NSF tyre delaminated on my MTM tuned S4 at paddock hill bend dumping me in the kitty litter, was able to keep the car straight (4WD  ) and out of the barrier 3) couple of years back in the really bad snow, got caught out in the middle of no where in the worst of it, momentary lapse of concentration meant i tapped the brake too hard (R32 brakes have 5mm of travel between off and emergency stop), sliding at 45 degrees straight into a stopped bus, point of impact would have been the NS B pillar... gunned it and luckily the 4wd got it going forward and straight and past the bus
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fausTVR
249 posts
19 months
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Some great stories but a note of caution; don't motor insurance bods read threads like these and sometimes manage to put 2 and 2 together re policy holders and admissions of incidents undeclared IYSWIM?
Am I a wee bit paranoid maybe?
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gowmonster
1,304 posts
36 months
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well they may, but whos to say every story on here is not made up.
I recently had a brown trouser moment where I crashed into a brick wall at 90mph and was killed on impact.
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Simonium
214 posts
21 months
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gowmonster said: well they may, but whos to say every story on here is not made up.
I recently had a brown trouser moment where I crashed into a brick wall at 90mph and was killed on impact. Excellent! :-)
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chriscoates
412 posts
29 months
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Not been driving long so just the one.
Driving downhill at about 25-30mph in a long stream of cars approaching a roundabout. Suddenly the traffic stops really quickly, too quickly for the Mini's brakes to cope with, meaning I had to swerve into the middle of the road towards oncoming traffic to avoid rear-ending the bloke in front. Maybe I was driving too close (although I don't remember that being the case) but it's certainly taught me to remember that I can't stop as quickly as everyone else and that the two-second rule is very important to me.
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Gun
11,697 posts
87 months
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Not had many but one sticks out like a sore thumb, was driving home in the fog one afternoon when a car appeared out of the fog driving on my side of the road! They were overtaking someone, luckily there wasn't anyone behind me when I slammed my brakes on and he just managed to jink back onto his side of the road.
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robsa
901 posts
53 months
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Been many but two spring to mind right now -
1) The rear wheel bearings on my Fireblade failing when I was doing about 125 leptons up the A23, locking the back wheel. Mind you, if you think I was scared, you should have seen the face of the guy driving the lorry which I sailed past onto the hard shoulder. I passed in FRONT of the lorry, missing it by about a foot, the back end snaking violently, bowels turned to water, and I will never forget the horrified look on his face - it was the colour of curdled milk!
2) 17 years old, my mate had recently passed his test and was driving his old mk1 fiesta 1100 waaay too fast as usual down a country lane - an indicated 85 leptons in the rain. I was already nervous, but when we rounded a corner to see someone on a horse pootling along.... he slammed the brakes on and we went sailing past the horse on the inside, backwards, up the concrete bank in front of a bridge over the A23, spun the car again, slid down the other side (missing the bridge by feet) in front of the horse and he carried on driving as if nothing had happened.... I nearly strangled him later!
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Grodecki
182 posts
53 months
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In one of my old minis which had Yokohama tyres on it, which, whilst good in the dry and decent in the wet, could not deal with standing water very well, and certainly not snow. Literally could not get up the flat road my house is on when it was covered in snow, wheels span no matter what you tried (higher gears, being super super gentle, etc etc).
Well, I was coming home from sixth form one day on a dual carriage way and doing about 50 as it was snowing, round a roundabout and onto another straight which has more snow cover. I'm in the 2nd lane overtaking a car coming out of the roundabout, and suddenly I feel the steering go light. Instinctively try and lightly brake to regain any sort of control... nothing. Keep trying and eventually some part of the car gets grip but sends me spinning across lane 1. Had done a 180 and had a Range Rover bearing down on me as I skidded across the lane. Genuinely thought it was the end there... amazingly the car continues careering off the carriage way and ends up going up an incrediably well placed side road which runs to a gated field. Car skidded across that and the back of it went into a bush.
Sat for a second in total disbelief, before stumbling out of the car and almost throwing up.
About half an hour later tried to drive out and found myself stuck with one wheel spinning freely and the other not moving... managed to wedge something under it and get moving and drove very, very slowly home. Car didn't even have a scratch.
Safe to say I'm way, way more careful in even just wet conditions, let alone snow.
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